How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Good
Value for Money
Satisfactory
Advantages:
sinister, juicy, evil, sad, underground .
Disadvantages:
guilty, evil, putrid, and some of the tracks are a bit too long .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
There's something about bands with three people in them - just a guitarist, bassist and a singer - that means their music has to be sinister and suspicious. An obvious comparison here would be Dark Star's (see?) 1999 album, "Twenty Twenty Sound", to which Calla's "Televise" relates as greasy trench-coated uncle does to his 14 year-old nephew. There's something not quite right about it.
Every track is slow, dense and soupy. The singer's voice is deep, smooth yet oddly sexless, conjuring up images of watching television with one-eyed Russians at night on some freezing cold oil rig. The guitars and bass are intricate, even a little smarmy in their "I'm over 30 but still in a fashionable band"-esque fingerings; the drums are methodical but also organic. It's not an album to listen to in the daylight; definitely not in the sunshine. It's a good aural accompaniment to reading Dostoyevsky or Hesse, perhaps it's even a good Christmas present for the Russian novelist who lives in your own cellar.
It's worthwhile, even if it will make you feel a little dirty. Compelling, like a bowl of whipped cream on a blustery moor in November.
More details
How does it rate alongside the competition
Good
Cover / Inlay Design and Content
Mediocre
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TELEVISE
Calla: Aurelio Valle (vocals, guitar); Sean Donovan (keyboards, bass, programming); Wayne
... more
B. Magruder (drums, percussion, programming).Recorded at Gigantic, New York, New York.[Reviews]Rolling Stone (2/6/03, p.62) - 3 stars out of 5 - ...TELEVISE is a ...
